Laureth's page

Looking at the 'Armor Special Abilities' section of Ultimate Equipment on the PRD, the idea of an armor or a shield providing an "enhancement bonus to ac" is mentioned several times:

Shields:

'A shield could be built that also acted as a magic weapon, but the cost of the enhancement bonus on attack rolls would need to be added into the cost of the shield and its enhancement bonus to AC.'

Defiant:

'...Against the designated foe, the item's enhancement bonus to AC is +2 better than its actual bonus...'

Ramming:

'...the shield's enhancement bonus to Armor Class applies to the attack and damage rolls...'

...as far as I am aware, there is no such thing as an armor or a shield providing an enhancement bonus to AC... a numeric bonus on armor provides an enhancement bonus to the armor's armor bonus to AC, and a numeric bonus on a shield provides an enhancement bonus to the shield's shield bonus to AC.

What is going on with this section? How to interpret these abilities?

So, for various reasons I don't want to get into in this thread (there are tons of other threads on the matter), I don't personally believe Ride By Attack works as advertised, and so I have been looking for an alternative way to get back out into charge distance following a successful charge.

I would like thoughts on the following idea.

What if I, as a Cavalier, raise my mount's Int to 3 and then have him take Weapons Focus (Bite), Dazzling Display, Mocking Dance and Performance Combatant.

As far as I can see, on a charge, if my horse's bite hits at the end he should be able to trigger Mocking Dance and moonwalk back 50ft to where we started while sniggering like Mutley. The actual result of the Performance Combat check seems irrelevant since the movement happens before the check.

This obviously isn't going to work all the time since my horse is quite likely to miss his bite, but I think it will be pretty awesome when it does. My horse is also going to provoke an AOO, but I guess I can use Mounted Combat to try to negate that.

Any problems with this by the RAW?

Some sources of bonus feats (off the top of my head the Ranger combat style class feature) call out that you don't need to meet the prereqs.

For some sources of bonus feats, you do have to meet the prereqs (for example the bonus feat from the Human racial trait).

Then there are some bonus feats that make no sense if you have to meet the prereqs but that don't call out that you don't need to.

A prime example is the Disruptive rage power that gives you Disruptive as a bonus feat, but mentions nothing about not needing to be a sixth level fighter. Another is the Bard archetype Arcane Dualist giving you Disruptive as a bonus feat, again with no text on prereqs. There are quite a few more, but these are the ones I can think of right now.

It is my understanding that if you have a feat you don't meet the prereqs for, it ceases to function, unless there is specific text allowing you to ignore the prereqs. Giving you a bonus feat you can't use.

Are these sources of bonus feats where you are highly unlikely to meet the prereqs for the feat just poorly written, or is there some general set of rules on bonus feats and prereqs that I'm missing?

Thanks.

Edit: Gah, this should be in rules questions but I don't know how to move it.

Yes. Basically, you only incur TWF penalties if you are trying to get an extra attack per round.
Let's assume you're a 6th-level fighter (BAB +6/+1) holding a longsword in one hand and a light mace in the other. Your possible full attack combinations without using two-weapon fighting are:
(A) longsword at +6, longsword +1
(B) mace +6, mace +1
(C) longsword +6, mace +1
(D) mace +6, longsword +1
All of these combinations result in you making exactly two attacks, one at +6 and one at +1. You're not getting any extra attacks, therefore you're not using the two-weapon fighting rule, and therefore you're not taking any two-weapon fighting penalties.
If you have Quick Draw, you could even start the round wielding only one weapon, make your main attack with it, draw the second weapon as a free action after your first attack, and use that second weapon to make your iterative attack (an "iterative attack" is an informal term meaning "extra attacks you get from having a high BAB"). As long as you're properly using the BAB values for your iterative attacks, and as long as you're not exceeding the number of attacks per round granted by your BAB, you are not considered to be using two-weapon fighting, and therefore do not take any of the penalties for two-weapon fighting.
The two-weapon fighting option in the Core Rulebook specifically refers to getting an extra attack for using a second weapon in your offhand. In the above four examples, there is no extra attack, therefore you're not using two-weapon fighting.
Using the longsword/mace example, if you use two-weapon fighting you actually have fewer options than if you aren't. Your options are (ignoring the primary/off hand penalties):
(A') primary longsword at +6, primary longsword at +1, off hand mace at +6
(B') primary mace at +6, primary mace at +1, off hand longsword at +6
In other words, once you decide you're using two-weapon fighting to get that extra attack on your turn (which you have to decide before you take any attacks on your turn), that decision locks you in to the format of "my primary weapon gets my main attack and my iterative attack, and my off hand weapon only gets the extra attack, and I apply two-weapon fighting penalties."

http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2n393&page=3?Str-bonus-during-multi-weapon- Ititerave-attacks#146

I deliberately wrote that FAQ entry so it wouldn't mention "off-hand" attacks until the section on using
the two-weapon fighting option. That's because the concept of an "off-hand" only applies when you are using the two-weapon fighting
option in the Combat chapter. Thus, if you're not using the twf combat option, there's no attack penalty and no Str bonus reduction."

You can also use your shield arm to wield a weapon (whether you are using an off-hand weapon or using your off hand to help wield a two-handed weapon), but you take a –1 penalty on attack rolls while doing so. This penalty stacks with those that may apply for fighting with your off hand and for fighting with two weapons. In any case, if you use a weapon in your off hand, you lose the buckler's Armor Class bonus until your next turn. You can cast a spell with somatic components using your shield arm, but you lose the buckler's Armor Class bonus until your next turn. You can't make a shield bash with a buckler.

Don't get me wrong, I think the FAQ makes a reasonable change, but it seems to me it very clearly is a change to the previous rule that in any given round one of your hands is primary and the other is your off hand. Also note the line about "using your off hand to help wield a two-handed weapon". The decision to make that change is going to necessitate a bunch or erratae in various places, the buckler entry just being one of the more striking examples. At present, I can quite clearly gain the full shield bonus from a +whatever buckler while wielding a greatsword with both hands (neither of which are now my off-hand) for 1.5x STR bonus and the two-handed power attack bonus.

Now, as a seasoned player/GM, I can think to myself, "Hmm.. Sean probably didn't mean to break all this stuff when he made that decision" and then proceed to make all the erratae in my head to come up with something that could be loosely termed RAI. However, this kind of thing causes a ton of problems to newer players who I often find tend to get frustrated that the rules they have paid for often don't mean what they say (anymore) and give up. Discuss.

You draw a heavy crossbow back by turning a small winch. Normally, operating a heavy crossbow requires two hands. However, you can shoot, but not load, a heavy crossbow with one hand at a –4 penalty on attack rolls. You can shoot a heavy crossbow with each hand, but you take a penalty on attack rolls as if attacking with two one-handed weapons. This penalty is cumulative with the penalty for one-handed firing.

Now, in the context of the FAQ on TWF penalties titled Multiple Weapons, Extra Attacks, and Two-Weapon Fighting: If I have extra attacks from a high BAB, can I make attacks with different weapons and not incur a two-weapon fighting penalty?, and assuming that FAQ's are not supposed to be stealth-erratae but rather 'clarifications', what does that text mean? I'm at a total loss. Even if you have rapid reload, you still need two hands to reload a (non-repeating) heavy crossbow, so I don't see how you could TWF with one in each hand. Sure, with Quick Draw (and dropping the first one if you had ITWF or GTWF) you could pull it off, but that still isn't attacking with one in each hand, it's attacking with one in one hand, quick drawing another in the other hand and then attacking with that. If you can't TWF with one in each hand, to which penalties for fighting with two one handed weapons are they referring?

Yes. Basically, you only incur TWF penalties if you are trying to get an extra attack per round.

Let's assume you're a 6th-level fighter (BAB +6/+1) holding a longsword in one hand and a light mace in the other. Your possible full attack combinations without using two-weapon fighting are:
(A) longsword at +6, longsword +1
(B) mace +6, mace +1
(C) longsword +6, mace +1
(D) mace +6, longsword +1
All of these combinations result in you making exactly two attacks, one at +6 and one at +1. You're not getting any extra attacks, therefore you're not using the two-weapon fighting rule, and therefore you're not taking any two-weapon fighting penalties.
If you have Quick Draw, you could even start the round wielding only one weapon, make your main attack with it, draw the second weapon as a free action after your first attack, and use that second weapon to make your iterative attack (an "iterative attack" is an informal term meaning "extra attacks you get from having a high BAB"). As long as you're properly using the BAB values for your iterative attacks, and as long as you're not exceeding the number of attacks per round granted by your BAB, you are not considered to be using two-weapon fighting, and therefore do not take any of the penalties for two-weapon fighting.
The two-weapon fighting option in the Core Rulebook specifically refers to getting an extra attack for using a second weapon in your offhand. In the above four examples, there is no extra attack, therefore you're not using two-weapon fighting.
Using the longsword/mace example, if you use two-weapon fighting you actually have fewer options than if you aren't. Your options are (ignoring the primary/off hand penalties):
(A') primary longsword at +6, primary longsword at +1, off hand mace at +6
(B') primary mace at +6, primary mace at +1, off hand longsword at +6
In other words, once you decide you're using two-weapon fighting to get that extra attack on your turn (which you have to decide before you take any attacks on your turn), that decision locks you in to the format of "my primary weapon gets my main attack and my iterative attack, and my off hand weapon only gets the extra attack, and I apply two-weapon fighting penalties."